This week I will be predicting the wildcard weekend games.
But first of all.... WOW! What an awesome NFL season it has been. Up until week 15, there were 19 teams still "alive" for a possible playoff birth. Up until week 16, there were 18 teams alive, and it took week 17 to narrow it down to the final 12 playoff teams. That is amazing! I can't remember another year where 19 teams were still alive going into the last two games. Awesome!
What I find extremely interesting is that three of these games are exact rematches of the week 17 final game of the regular season. The NFL did a great job predicting who will be in contention.
Saturday's games:
NY Jets at Cincy Bengals: The Jets can run around and say they have the best defense and the best rushing attack, but I think they will lose. They shouldn't even be in the playoffs. If it wasn't for Indianapolis letting them win, they would be hopeless and out of the playoffs. Yes, they rushed for more yards than any other team. Yes, they have the "statistical" number 1 defense... but I don't think they can really keep up with real NFL teams. The Bengals have an explosive offense, although recently stymied, but they can put it together. They rested all their "studs" in week 17 which also contributed to NY Jets making the playoffs. I guess it's better to let a lousy team into the playoffs and destroy them the following week, than to beat them and perhaps have to face the Steelers or Ravens. I think the Jets will lose by a lot. Mark Sanchez will throw plenty of interceptions, and Zimmer will unleash his defense. Go Bengals! I think it'll be a blowout, something like 34-14.
Philly at Dallas: This is another week 17 repeat. The last time these two met, Dallas blew Philly out. Although, Philly didn't "rest" their starters, it seemed that they were mentally on vacation, missing tackles, no gap discipline and let Dallas walk all over them. Pretty bad loss. This is probably going to be closer than most expect. I don't think that Philly will falter and lose as badly as before. They may even pull this off. The Jones Mahal will be rocking and will be filled to capacity and it'll be tough. But Philly has won some very tough road games. The young players on offense for Philly will have to step up, I am not sure that they can. DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy, Jeremy Maclin will all have to put the past behind, and play. This game will be close. Both offenses are capable of putting up a lot of points. I'm thinking Dallas will win 31-28 or 28-24. Tough game to call.
Sunday's Games:
Baltimore at New England: I think New England wins easily. Baltimore's secondary is very week, and New England can pass. New England's offense is amazingly explosive. They don't rest players, they don't get off the accelerator. That's my kind of team. The weather in NE will be a factor. These guys love playing in the fluffy white stuff and will take it to Baltimore. Baltimore's only hope will be to keep it a ground game and keep the ball away from NE, but I don't think that Ray Rice will do much damage against this defense. They have Jerrod Mayo back and their safety play has been excellent the past few games. New England will win by a score of 35-10. But I can easily see them put up over 40.
Green Bay at Arizona: Another week 17 rematch game. I really like Green Bay's chances this year of going all the way. They finally have figured it out and are protecting Aaron Rodgers. Arizona has had some issues protecting Warner and Arizona has been resting players. I don't like resting and it'll work against them. GB has the superior running game by a wide margin. GB has an equivalent passing game, and uses their TEs more. Arizona's defense has lost a lot of steam, and I don't think they will get to Rodgers. Rodgers offensive line has been shuffled around, and is playing much more cohesively now. Green Bay's defense has been exceptional with the most turnovers. Charles Woodson (who I played against in high school) is playing out of his mind, better than he has ever played. He won the Heisman and a National Championship in college. When is the last time a defensive player ever came close to winning the Heisman? I think GB wins 28-10 or maybe even 28-3. I don't see Arizona pulling it off, nor is their "home field advantage" much of an advantage. Their RBs and QBs fumble too much. Sorry Zona!
Teams with byes:
I will predict these games next week. The teams I am most concerned about are Indy, NO, and Vikings. They haven't played particulary well the past few weeks and have been in quasi-rest mode (or full blown rest mode). That doesn't bode well for them. I am not worried about the Chargers, they always play with a chip on their shoulders and will beat anyone that has to play them. They play the highest seed to make it to the second round, while Indy plays the lowest seed to make it. Of all the possibilities, only New England could beat San Diego in San Diego. The only other team that can end up playing them is the Bengals... the will probably lose to SD. Next week should definitely be a lot more interesting, can't wait to see the matchups.
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